30 Women Under 30 Who Are Changing The World

The inspiring rule-breakers and game-changers you need to know

ELLE turns 30 this month and we’re celebrating three decades of game-changing achievements. But these 30 young women are giving us a run for our money. Meet the tastemakers, opinionators, future-shapers and art creators who are transforming your world.

Be inspired.

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Mohima Ahmed, 20, App developer

In a world of wannabe app developers scrambling to create the next Angry Birds, Mohima is a true force for change. She is trustee at Apps For Good, an award-winning, open-source education technology movement that aims to build the next generation of problem-solvers. Mohima was appointed after developing an English to Bengali translator app to help parents and school teachers communicate better. Twitter: @themohima95

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Maisie Williams, 18, Actress

Bristol-born Maisie is best known for playing Arya Stark in smash hit Game of Thrones, a role she won when she was just 12 years old. She’s grown up in the spotlight and has used her fame as a platform to discuss her personal experiences with cyberbullying. At this year’s Berlin Film Festival she was honoured as the UK’s Shooting Star (Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz received the accolade previously). Twitter: @maisie_williams

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Soak, 19, Singer-songwriter

Bridie Monds-Watson started performing her music when she was 14 – the same year she came out to her parents. Shortly after, she played at Radio 1’s Big Weekend (when it came to her hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland in 2013) and Chvrches signed her on their singles label, Goodbye Records. Not a bad year, then. The skateboarding songwriter now known as Soak (a combination of the words ‘soul’ and ‘folk’) has since toured with George Ezra and was long-listed for the BBC Sound of 2015. Her debut studio album, Before We Forgot How To Dream, is out now. Twitter: @Soakofficial

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Jade Jones, 22, Athlete

The definition of fierce, Jade won Britain’s first taekwondo gold medal representing Team GB at the Summer Olympics London 2012, making her Britain’s youngest Olympic champion at the games. Jade was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2013 for her services to taekwondo. Twitter: @jadejonestkd

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Ashley Williams, 27, Fashion designer

Fashion East alumna Ashley creates Americana pop clothes with Brit ‘It’ girl appeal. Her brand caters to a kind of haute hipster (her fans include Cara Delevingne and Alexa Chung) and we awarded her the Emerging Designer prize at the ELLE Style Awards this year. Ashley also co-founded label Funky Offish with best friend Pixie Geldof. Twitter: @happyashleyland

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Liza Dye, 25, Actress and comedian

In February 2014, Liza, who hails from South Carolina, was hit by a subway train in New York. She woke up underneath the carriage, which nearly took off her leg, and spent three months in hospital. The way in which she turned this life-changing tragedy into a comedy act (by finding humour in her vulnerability) is a tribute to her resilience and determination. News of the accident galvanised fellow comedians (including Zach Braff) – they clubbed together to raise nearly £50,000 for Liza’s medical bills. Twitter: @lizadye

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Michaela Deprince, 20, Dancer

After her father was killed during the Sierra Leone civil war and her mother died from starvation shortly after, Michaela spent her early childhood moving from orphanage to refugee camp, where she suffered abuse and malnourishment, before an American couple adopted her in 1999 and moved her to the States at the age of four. In her new home of Pennsylvania, Michaela began her ballet training, eventually climbing the ranks to star in the documentary First Position and joining the Dutch National Ballet in August 2013, where she remains the only dancer of African origin in the company. Twitter: @michdeprince

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Binx Walton, 19, Model

Tennesse-born skateboarding supermodel Binx (nicknamed by her two brothers after the Star Wars character Jar Jar) made her catwalk debut in 2013 as a Marc Jacobs exclusive and has fronted campaigns for Céline, Chanel and Balmain. She’s outspoken, undone and attitude-driven, and the fashion industry can’t get enough. Twitter: @waltonleona

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Mhairi Black, 20, MP

Mhairi became the youngest MP in 350 years when she beat Labour’s former shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander to the Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat as the Scottish National Party’s candidate in the general election. She toppled Douglas’ majority by more than 5,000 votes. Her maiden House of Commons speech was a masterclass in confidence , and has been viewed online nearly 11 million times. Twitter: @mhairiblack

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Lauren Currie, 28, Designer and innovator

When she was 23, Lauren co-founded service design agency Snook – which has worked with charities, the British Council and Macmillan Cancer Support – in her native Scotland. In addition, she set up citizen forum MyPolice, is the programme leader designing and running an MA in Digital Experience Design at Hyper Island (the ‘digital Harvard’), and runs Nightriders, an online network she set up to support first-time entrepreneurs. Some know her as Redjotter, the name of her popular design blog. Twitter: @redjotter

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Bonita Norris, 27, Expeditionist

A typical day for Bonita is quite literally spent on top of the world. She is the youngest person to reach both the summit of Mount Everest (back in 2010, aged 22), and the North Pole (in 2011, at 23). She also broke records by scaling the world’s fourth highest mountain, Lhotse, in 2012. Bonita frequently raises money via charitable expeditions and speaks to schoolchildren about reaching their potential. Twitter: @bonitanorris

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Lucy Hall, 23, 2012 Team GB Olympic Triathlete

English elite athlete Lucy represented Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games, aged just 20. She was the first competitor to exit the Serpentine, making her the fastest swimmer in triathlon. Her outstanding feats in the water in France, where she races in the Grand Prix, have earned her the nickname la sirène (mermaid). Rio 2016 is next. Twitter: @Lucy_Tri

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DIVYA NAG, 24,HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY PIONEER

Divya is a stem cell researcher turned healthcare technology specialist, and the founder of healthcare innovation companies StartX Med and Stem Cell Theranostics. Barely out of university, she’s already engaged in discussions with President Obama on women in entrepreneurship. Earlier this year, she joined a research and development team at Apple for a top secret medical and healthcare product. Twitter: @DNAG09

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MELTEM AVCIL, 21, CAMPAIGNER AND ACTIVIST

At 13, Meltem was locked up for three months in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire with her mother while their application to remain in the UK was being filed. On her release she joined the campaign to abolish the centre’s detention of children, which was won in 2010. Now Meltem aims to save vulnerable women from suffering the same experience as her mother, and is spearheading a petition to Theresa May asking for the closure of Yarl’s Wood, and an end to the detention of women seeking asylum. Twitter: @MELTEMAVCIL1

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BILLIE JD PORTER, 23, WRITER AND FILMMAKER

Londoner Billie has been crafting a multi-platform career on her own terms since the age of 16 – across print, digital and television for brands including NME, Vice and Wonderland. She’s modelled for Louis Vuitton and Levi’s, and can DJ too. Her various documentaries on the cult of celebrity, teen sex, prostitution and the secrets of South America on C4 and BBC showcase her immersive interview style and ability to switch between sardonic and sensitive. Twitter: @BILLIEJDPORTER

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DEANNA RODGER, 25, SPOKEN-WORD ARTIST

Londoner Deanna became the youngest UK Poetry Slam Champion in 2007. She has performed at events in Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street, and is a resident artist at The Roundhouse. She was commissioned to co-write the script for the 2012 Olympic Team Welcome Ceremonies and explores homelessness on the BBC iPlayer spoken-word series, Women Who Spit.

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EMILY BROOKE, 29,BUSINESSWOMAN

As the founder and CEO of Blaze – a company making products for urban cyclists – Emily has made it her mission to improve cyclists’ safety, starting with the Blaze Laserlight. It’s a bike light with a laser projection designed to tackle the biggest cause of cycling fatalities: vehicles turning into the path of an unseen bike. This year, Emily received the Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award. Previous winners, such as Decoded’s Kathryn Parsons, have gone on to big things. Twitter: @BUZZBROOKE

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EMMA BLACKERY, 23, VLOGGER

Emma’s main YouTube channel has more than 1 million subscribers and her total views exceed 80 million. Her goal is to entertain, educate and inspire young people to fight against life’s setbacks, big and small, and to do the things they love. She is also a musician and her second EP, Distance, reached No. 1 on the iTunes Rock chart within the first week of its release. Twitter: @EMMABLACKERY

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TRACY CHOU, 28, SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Aspiring interns, take your cue from Tracy. The former Facebook and Google intern is now a software engineer at Pinterest, credited with contributing significantly to the company’s growth. Before Pinterest, Tracy turned down a role at Facebook – she became the second engineer at question-and-answer website Quora instead. Where Are The Numbers? is a project driven by Tracy that aims to hold tech giants accountable for their diversity statistics. She also mentors at San Francisco’s leading software engineering school for women, Hackbright Academy. TWITTER: @TRIKETORA

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FKA TWIGS, 27, MUSICIAN, PRODUCER AND DANCER

Tahliah Debrett Barnett’s multi-disciplinary creative output defies straightforward categorisation. To watch her perform is to be utterly immersed in her myriad influences – from Swan Lake to vogueing – and uncompromising creative vision. Her world is one we want to be part of. TWITTER: @FKATWIGS

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HANNAH HART, 28, AUTHOR, COMEDIAN, INTERNET PERSONALITY

Over 2 million people subscribe to Hannah’s YouTube channel (it has more than 164 million views and counting) and her series My Drunk Kitchen (cooking while sloshed, naturally) began in 2011. The first episode has now racked up 3.7 million YouTube hits (we’ll repeat that: 3.7 million). In 2014, Hannah released My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide To Eating, Drinking & Going With Your Gut, a book she described as ‘self-help parody meets drunk cooking’. And as if she weren’t accomplished enough, she runs a charity initiative called Have A Hart Day, which organises volunteers to help at food shelters all over the world. TWITTER: @HARTO

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OLIVIA WOLLENBERG, 26, BUSINESSWOMAN

Olivia is a psychologist and neuroscientist turned baker and entre-preneur. Her parents let her convert their house into a factory and she’s been producing nutritious crumbles (free from wheat, dairy and refined sugar) in their kitchen for the past year. The Livia’s Kitchen range is stocked at Selfrid-ges, Harvey Nichols and Planet Organic. What’s next? Cooking courses. #CrumbleIsTheNewCake

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LOLA KIRKE, 25, ACTRESS

The Sundance-lauded, cinematic dream duo behind Frances Ha – Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig – returned this summer with Mistress America, another sparkling exploration of the human condition. Cue lots of existential conflict, executed with wry intelligence. Starring opposite Gerwig was Lola Kirke, sister of Girls’ Jemima Kirke and the film’s breakout star. The 2017-slated release of Mena, in which Lola stars alongside Tom Cruise and Domhnall Gleeson, is likely to confirm her as one of Hollywood’s most promising new talents.

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MAUDE APATOW, 17, ACTRESS AND WRITER

Maude is the eldest daughter of comedy king Judd Apatow and actress Leslie Mann. As a writer, Maude contributes to Zooey Deschanel’s lifestyle website HelloGiggles and Tavi Gevinson’s online magazine Rookie. Acting credits include a clutch of films directed by her father, and a TV debut in season four of Lena Dunham’s Girls. Oh, and her Twitter following of 200k and rising is surely a teenage dream. TWITTER: @MAUDEAPATOW

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MOLLY GODDARD, 26, FASHION DESIGNER

Molly left her fashion MA course at Central Saint Martins a year early to set up her business. It turned out to be a good move: her autumn/winter 2015 collection was supported by NEWGEN, shown at Somerset House and stocked at Dover Street Market. Her pretty awkward-prom-girl aesthetic and architectural way with netting scream modern romance. Twitter: @MOLLYMGODDARD

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OLIVIA COOKE, 21, ACTRESS

The Oldham-born actress is the lead in Me And Earl And The Dying Girl (out 4 September), which won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. She has more independent films in the pipeline following 2014’s set of supernatural thrillers The Signal, Ouija and The Quiet Ones (also starring Sam Claflin). Watch this space.

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PHOEBE COLLINGS JAMES, 27, ARTIST

Phoebe started modelling when she was 13 and went on to study fine art at Goldsmiths in London. Now her multidisciplinary artwork is exhibited internationally. She is most prolific in sculpture, painting and video and explores themes of violence, sexuality, desire, and beauty. She also created a feminist blog for dialogues about art and feminism. Twitter: @phoebetbc

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RUBY TANDOH, 23, BAKER AND WRITER

Former Great British Bake Off contestant, Crumb author and ELLE columnist Ruby is fast becoming one of the most compelling voices of her generation. She came out as gay to her 64,500 Twitter followers earlier this year, and is outspoken about feminism and women’s relationships with food and their bodies. She says she is ‘always either eating or thinking about eating, and dresses and dances like a dad at a wedding.’ Instagram: @ruby.tandoh

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SAMANTHA JOHN, 28, PROGRAMMER AND ENTREPRENEUR

If you want to be relevant in our technical age, you need to get with the programme – literally. That’s where Samantha comes in. She’s the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Hopscotch, an app that teaches children how to code. During its first week of release, Hopscotch was downloaded a massive 20,000 times. Twitter: @samj0hn

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TIFFANY PHAM, 28, BUSINESS WOMAN

Tiffany is the founder and CEO of award-winning website onmogul.com, which connects women to stories, jobs and products that reflect their interests. Tiffany is also an acclaimed film producer and arts philanthropist. Twitter: @tifftpham

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